Upcoming City slickers should take better care on social media August 18, 2015 YOU ALWAYS hear rumours of big companies trawling through prospective employees’ social media profiles to look for dirt, but the finance world is slacking on the job. The Capitalist is privy to a few accounts of London’s young City slickers, and these are just a few of the hot takes and drunken escapades coming out [...]
Major investor backs Qatar’s bid for Canary Wharf owner Songbird Estates December 8, 2014 The Qatari sovereign wealth fund and its partner Brookfield's joint £2.6bn bid for Canary Wharf owner Songbird Estates has been provisionally accepted by Madison International Realty. Madison International Realty owns about 2.5 per cent of the company's stock and around 12 per cent of the free-floating shares. This, in addition to an earlier acceptance by [...]
Pound jumps as Bank of England’s Ben Broadbent tells City analysts to take the yield curve with a grain of salt November 18, 2015 Investors, analysts and economists are at risk of making big mistakes if they rely on the interest rate on short-term government bonds as an accurate forecast for when Bank of England interest rates will rise, a Bank official has warned – despite the fact the Bank uses it in its own economic predictions. The warning comes after a major shift in [...]
Don’t leave us hanging: Qatar and Brookfield “remind” Songbird shareholders to approve bid for Canary Wharf owner before deadline January 22, 2015 In what must be a last-ditch attempt to woo the shareholders of Songbird, Qatar Investment Authority and Brookfield have sent out an alert to "remind" them of the takeover bid for the Canary Wharf owner. The pair increased the offer from 295p per share to 350p per share last autumn, but Songbird urged its [...]
Can we please just stop putting pop-up beaches everywhere? July 31, 2015 WHEN will this trend of making pop-up beaches in office courtyards end? This summer has seen beaches inexplicably appearing all over London’s financial districts, from Canary Wharf’s beach volleyball to Finsbury Park’s beach rugby today. Now even office estates out in the sticks are catching on. What have you done!? West London’s Chiswick Park is [...]
Former Apple exec Jeff Martin joins London smart city startup Pavegen as crowdfunding reaches £2m July 5, 2015 London-based tech startup Pavegen which creates hi-tech flooring with the potential to power cities has announced that Jeff Martin, formerly a senior executive at Apple, will join its advisory board. The news came as the firm announced it has smashed its crowdfunding target, raising nearly £2m from online investors. Martin worked with iconic Apple founder [...]
Double rainbow on City commute June 22, 2015 It may have been overcast, but Monday morning was far from dull after commuters were greeted by rainbow brights from Canary Wharf to London Bridge. Barclays and TfL have teamed up to wrap a DLR train in rainbows for Pride in London, which takes place this week. The train, which runs from Canary Wharf to [...]
Here’s what a new City office scheme with five garden roof terraces will look like at 80 Fenchurch Street September 17, 2015 Work on a new office tower that will boast the biggest number of roof gardens in the City got underway this week, as developers began knocking down the old site. Partners Group, a Swiss private equity firm, is developing a 245,000 square feet office tower at 80 Fenchurch Street together with joint venture partner Marick Real [...]
Spiking in the sand as bankers battle it out July 13, 2015 YOU MIGHT have noticed the beach volleyball court that’s suddenly landed in Canary Wharf this week. Teams of financiers have been signing up to compete in a volleyball tournament on Friday, raising money for charity Action for Kids. It’s £300 per team of 5-12 people, and Barclays is giving it a go tomorrow. Now, if we [...]
Doddle’s Tim Robinson talks 2016, the future of shopping and why he’s looking for a new partner January 18, 2016 Have you used Doddle? If you have, then you’ll either have done so once or 13 times, Tim Robinson, chief executive of the parcel collect and send service tells me. Founded in the autumn of 2014, Doddle has done rather well so far. Over its 2015 peak trading period (the run-up to Christmas), it saw [...]